Vaccines do not cause IgG4 disease any more than they cause any other autoimmune condition. IgG4 disease is a real disease and it’s not increasing in prevalence.
Covidgate How a group of scientists and government officials tricked the public https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/covidgate excerpt: On July 11, 2023 the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will hold a hearing titled, Investigating the Proximal Origin of a Cover Up. The cover-up being referred to was put into place by a small group of scientists at the request of U.S. government officials to quash any public discussion of the possibility that COVID-19 resulted from a research-related incident — known colloquially as a lab leak. The cover-up is well known and well documented by those who closely follow this issue This post provides an overview for those who may not be as familiar with the cover-up. Before diving in, let me state the obvious — this is a big effing deal, as Joe Biden might say. Scientists and government officials conspired — yes, conspired — to mislead the public by knowingly promoting misinformation in the guise of a peer-reviewed paper in a major journal. Given the stakes, this is a scientific scandal with huge significance. This cover-up, which I’ll call Covidgate, is independent of the ultimate answer to the question of whether Covid-19 had only natural origins or was associated with a research-related incident. Currently, the U.S. intelligence community has determined, “All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident.” The cover-up was designed to render the possibility of a “laboratory-based scenario” off limits for public discussion or investigation. The cover-up was wildly successful in stopping further public discussion of a lab leak for several years, until informationabout the cover-up started to become public. In fact, perhaps the cover-up was too successful, which may explain why the scientists and government officials are now under such scrutiny. Covidgate centers on a research paper — The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2 — which concludes: “[W]e do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.” This conclusion, as I’ll show below, is not what the authors of the paper actually believed when they wrote it, as revealed in various Freedom of Information Act disclosures. The scientists worked to shape a misleading public narrative via the scientific literature at the request of government officials, who then promoted the misleading narrative from the White House. Like I said, a big effing deal. Let’s dive in. more at the link
Not going down the whole conspiracy rabbit hole, but I'll share a more complete snippet from the conclusion of the paper, which was published in March of 2020, the early, early days, with scientists (many of whom I know who were not on this paper, spending all hours of the day going through the genetic code of the virus and trying to figure out what was most likely). From the conclusion of that (allegedly controversial) paper: "In the midst of the global COVID-19 public-health emergency, it is reasonable to wonder why the origins of the pandemic matter. Detailed understanding of how an animal virus jumped species boundaries to infect humans so productively will help in the prevention of future zoonotic events. For example, if SARS-CoV-2 pre-adapted in another animal species, then there is the risk of future re-emergence events. In contrast, if the adaptive process occurred in humans, then even if repeated zoonotic transfers occur, they are unlikely to take off without the same series of mutations. In addition, identifying the closest viral relatives of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in animals will greatly assist studies of viral function. Indeed, the availability of the RaTG13 bat sequence helped reveal key RBD mutations and the polybasic cleavage site. The genomic features described here may explain in part the infectiousness and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin described here. However, since we observed all notable SARS-CoV-2 features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related coronaviruses in nature, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible. More scientific data could swing the balance of evidence to favor one hypothesis over another." I just think the added context is worthwhile. I bolded some things that the Pielke Jr column neglects that are just normal, honest scientific type stuff that, in my network, people really agreed with at the time. The underlined portion is what Pielke Jr is focusing on, and that does seem sloppy (to me). I think now and thought at the time I read it (in 2020) that they meant "laboratory-based" to mean genetically manipulated and altered in a laboratory setting, but it is sloppy b/c they did not write that specifically, and having a found virus (like the one from the south China mine) in a lab and having that virus escape the lab is what most of us would consider a "laboratory-based scenario." Not disputing a big conspiracy, but the great majority of scientists I know wouldn't change what they thought in writing given government pressure BUT plenty of co-authors, scientists or no, give into word-smything pressure when on deadlines. Maybe there was pressure in that phrase, and maybe cherry-picked parts of the rabbit hole suggest that. Personally, I cannot see a huge difference in: (1) virus hopped from animals to humans "in the wild" (or in a market, or a forest, or whatever) versus (2) virus collected from a mine hopped from animals to humans "in a laboratory." I mean, lab protocol could have helped prevent a pandemic in #2, but it could have easily escaped in a bat from the mine, etc, etc. I still don't understand what the conspiracy stood to gain from promoting #1 over #2 unless it was just international goodwill and avoiding a xenophobic public outcry, which was bad enough already. Cheers. (And sincerely, in no way to I want to deflate any excitement that some may feel over a good conspiracy narrative. Go to town. There were so few authors on that paper, so... who knows.)
Language is messy, and that's why it's important to see the context to fully understand the meaning. In hindsight, the authors should definitely have used a different phrasing than "laboratory-based scenario". However, if you read the full article and consider its full context, the meaning of that phrase becomes pretty clear. They were referring to "not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus".
In the press in France and Quebec in April of 2020: Indian researchers observe the insertion of the furin at the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein cleavage site. (Furin also appears in the virus that causes AIDS.) No other SARS like virus has furin at the spike protein site and it is furin that makes SARS-CoV-2 so much more virulent. This research is picked up by Luc Montagnier, Nobel Prize winner, and announced in the French Press in April of 2020. This announcement is ignored by the US mainstream media. Luc Montagnier is denounced as a fringe researcher. At this point, anyone could have checked the federal grants for research on coronavirus. I did in April of 2020. Grants to the Ecohealth alliance came up. The grants mentioned a sub-award to the Wuhan Institute of virology. In 2020 and 2021, anyone who discussed the Ecohealth grants on coronavirus gain of function research was written off as a conspiracy theorist. Most had their twitter accounts shadow banned. A widespread propaganda campaign was launched in 2020 (Including in statnews and Science Magazine) to dismiss questions about the lab leak and questions about gain of function research of Ecohealth. I'm amazed that there are still people in the comment threads suggesting that this didn't happen and that scientists were doing their best to find the origin of covid. Some of these people say they are scientists. If so, then they are extraordinarily incurious "scientists".
I don’t know what that even means. I have had 4 doses though, with my first in Dec 2020 and my latest last September. And I know what my antibody levels have been throughout the whole pandemic.
You can go on and tell yourself that everything will be A ok but not according to the latest research on people with multiple Covid shots and IgG4 related disease.
Link to the article that seems to be scaring you so much. Like I said IgG4 disease is not a new disease and it’s not related to vaccines. The COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are modern marvels. They are mRNA, salt, and a lipid shell. The cells absorb the lipid and process the mRNA just as it would during an infection with actual SARS-COV-2. The mRNA degrades in a few days. The lipids are excreted in bile. The salt in urine. The spike proteins are degraded after a few weeks. After two vaccinations, durable immunity is seen in 90+% of people. I saw a magnitude jump in my own IgG levels. My highest levels were from asymptomatic infections. My IgG levels now are about 8-9 fold higher than before getting vaccinated and being immune naive. My immune system is fine. You should be more concerned about my (and your) BP and LDLs.
I think you're probably right but really don't know exactly what they meant, and scientists aren't great writers in general, at all. Did they get pressure to use a more vague phrasing on that one partial line? I doubt it... could be possible. But if some gub'mint boogeyman was pressuring that one phrase, why would they allow all the other phrasing? But who knows. I just don't see much of a there there for the big conspiracy idea that another please-click-me person is promoting. I think I'll stay out of this thread. There's no new information about the actual virus, how it's mutating, or prognosis for other closely related airborne viruses on the horizon. That's kind of why I keep coming back to the thread, not to whack-a-mole the latest irrelevant (to me) foggy narrative of alleged deception cooked up within the first weeks of a global, confusing pandemic. LOL, okay.
I was actually going to post more about the conspiracy, but then I changed my mind. Not worth the time. I only came to this thread because I saw that you had posted here. Other than that, I agree. There's nothing here to debate or learn.
At the height of the pandemic, when people were frustrated with being locked in, it may have made some sense (to some) to deny the gain of function angle. The US would have been blamed and who knows what would have happened. Now, it is barely newsworthy.
Like I’ve said, there’s really nothing much you can do but telling yourself that you’re A ok at this point. After all, it is a done deal that you got all those Covid shots. Not wishing bad things on you or anything else but according to the latest research, it is not good news for the super vaccinated, but whatever. What’s done is done and we just have to live with it. As in my case, I never wavered from the start after I dug deep on reading about this hastily put together Covid vaccine that was forced upon us. I had to cancel an overseas trip because of the vaccine requirement. I did not take a single shot, caught a mild case of Covid in 21, recovered in 3 days. I think I can sleep a little better than the super vaccinated, that’s for sure.
I highly doubt that posting the article will do you any good at this moment. It is a done deal for you so just live your life.
You want to read an article about a real side effect about the vaccine? https://www.nature.com/articles/s44161-022-00180-z Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) can follow COVID-19 as part of the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but it can also develop after COVID-19 vaccination. A new study shows that the rate of new-onset POTS diagnoses is slightly increased after COVID-19 vaccination, but is five times lower than the rate of POTS diagnoses after SARS-CoV-2 infection. From the POTS advocacy group itself: Since the vaccines are not an attenuated version of the COVID-19 virus, there is not a risk of getting infected by the vaccine. There is increasing evidence that POTS can be triggered by or worsened by a COVID-19 infection, therefore we suggest all individuals with POTS or other autonomic disorders work diligently with their physician(s) to seek vaccination. I don’t think you will ever appreciate how harmful COVID-19 was on a population level for the immune naive because you’re too myopic. Just because you had a mild course without vaccination only means you had a mild course. Millions of people died and millions more have long term side effects of being infected. The vaccines drastically reduced mortality and severe infections. To the point I have not seen COVID-19 as pneumonia since last summer. It’s mostly sore throats and sinusitis now. The only “medical” people trying to discount the severity of COVID-19 at this point are trying to sell you vitamins and other snake oils at marked up prices, exploiting your ignorance for their greed. Typically, there are not medical practitioners but alternative health folks promoting wellness. Think chiropractors and naturopaths or MD/DOs who could not pass up on their greed. They will say the other 99% of medical professionals are lying to you, but their vitamin cocktail at $99 will fix all that ails you.
